SCELL celebrates 1st anniversary

PHILIPSBURG – The University of St. Martin’s (USM) School of Continuing Education and Life Long Learning (SCELL) celebrated its first anniversary on August 1.

SCELL opened its door a year ago, and celebrated the launch of this new and innovative Business Arm of USM with a quaint, but sophisticated celebration in the elegantly lit courtyard. Dignitaries, press, USM’s staff and faculty, leaders from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), politicians, board members of USM, Managing Directors and Human Resources managers on the island, local organizations, large and small, and members of the community lined the seats under the big tent and embraced the idea.

The idea, that St. Maarten finally had a training and development organization that understood their needs, their culture and was equipped to develop effective training programs to meet the needs of their valued work teams at all levels on their motherland.

The birth of SCELL has rocked St. Maarten and hasn’t stopped since August 1, 2015. To date they have over 100 plus customized trainings to offer, established relationships with the biggest organizations on the island, founded two organizations, Women’s Island Network, (WIN) and Young Professionals Network (YPN), both sharing the same vision to raise funds to encourage women and men ages 18-45 to pursue higher learning degrees at USM.

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That is not all. Both organizations will award 12 scholarships to students this Fall. The six male and six female scholarships will be awarded to students, who will be pursuing a Hospitality degree in USM’s accredited and successful BTEC program.

SCELL officially pronounced September as the “Caribbean’s, Get Ready for the High Season” month. The foundation of the conference is to support the economic sustainability of St. Maarten by hosting a conference that encourages other islands to register, attend and join the festivities.

This conference has catapulted SCELL as an automatic leader, the training mecca throughout the Caribbean. SCELL will offer 40+ trainings throughout September ranging from Public Speaking, Accounting Basics, Supervisory Boot Camp, Customer Service Boot Camp, Microsoft Excel 101, Management and Leadership Boot Camp, Writing Skills for Professionals, Sales and Marketing Techniques, Email Etiquette and two opportunities to earn certifications from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute (AHLEI).

AHLEI is the global leader in hospitality training and hotel management certifications in the world. The Certified Guest Services Professional training will be facilitated by Erwin Wolthuis, USM’s BTEC Hospitality Division Head and Certified Hospitality Educator, and Dr. Natasha Gittens, a Master Certified Hospitality Educator, one of only 13 in the world, appointed by AHLEI.

They will facilitate the Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) 4-day training offered in St. Maarten for the first time by USM. The conference starts September 9 and will end September 30. It will be held simultaneously at Divi Little Bay Resort and USM.